Projectile.



No. 725,385 PATENTED APR. 14, 1903 O. VAN U. vWHEELER 5; A. G. MQKENNA.

PROJECTILE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3, 1902.

HQMODEL.

WITNESSES:

30 caused by the strains brought to bear upon omen STATES FFEQEQ CHARLESVAN OISE WHEELER, OF ALLEGHENY, AND ALEXANDER GEORGI MGKENNA, OFPI'TTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO FIRTH STIR- LING STEEL COMPANY, ACORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

PROJECTILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 725,385, dated April14, 1903.

Application filed June 3, 1902. Serial No. 110,110. (No model.

T at whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES VAN CIsn WHEELER,engineer, of Allegheny,andALEX- ANDER GEORGE MCKENNA, engineer, of Pitts- 5 burg, Pennsylvania,citizens of the United States of America, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Projectiles, of which the following is aspecification, illus:

trated by drawings.

The object of the present invention is to improve the formation of thebase of project- 'iles, and especially those designed for armorpiercingin the vicinity of the band-score.

At the moment of impact of a projectile upon an armor-plate the relativestrength of the projectile and the plate determines which shall yield. Avery small increase in the strength of the projectile will determinewhether it shall pierce the armor-plate or go to pieces withoutpiercing. Consequently evena slight increase in diiference. in thestrength of the projectile will determine ab-fl solutely whetherit canor can not pierce a plate of given strength. Probably the strongestportion of the modern armor-piercing projectile is the solid mass of theprojectile immediately in front of the chamber. Projectiles failfrequently by the breaking off of the rear end of the projectile. Thisis often the wall of the chamber of the projectile at the band-score atthe instant the riding-band or rotation-band, which is set in thebandscore, reaches and is forced through the hole made in the plate bythe projectile. The riding-band, although of softer metal than theprojectile, is usually set in a band-score, which to the extent of itsdepth weakens the wall of the projectile, for as the band projects 40and is of larger diameter than the rest of the projectile it produces asudden increase of 5 resistance and a consequent strain upon theweakened wall of the chamber at that point.

The object of the present invention is to 5 so conform the wall of theprojectile behind the bahd that the band and an exteriorportion of theprojectile-wall may readily break oif, leaving the'chamber of theprojectile absolutel y intact. To facilitate this, it is desir' ablethat the hand-score itself be cut at a slight taper toward the rear, sothat frictional resistance between the band and the bandsoore will beproportionally reduced, thus facilitating the breaking o& of a thin ringof metal behind the hand without creating ex- 5 5- cessive strainsthroughout the thickness of the wall ofthe chamber.

Under the present invention an annular space or recess is made behindthe band and band-score, so that the breaking off of a thin ring ofmetal is thereby facilitated and at the same time space is preferablyafforded for the broken fragments.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view of a projectileembodying the invention in one preferred form,one portion of the rearend of the projectile being shown in radial section. Figs. 2 to 11 aresectional views on radial sections of the rear corners of vari-' ousprojectiles ofdiiferent design embodying the improvement.

In Fig. 1, B is the band set in the baudscore of one form of UnitedStates naval projectile. E is the shoulder of the extractionscore. maytaper slightly rearward, so as to diminishfrictional resistance betweenthe band and the score and facilitate thedirecting of the strainsproduced by the band in a direction favorable to the breaking OR of aring .80 of metal in the rear of the band instead of directing thestrain through the thickness of the wall of the chamber. In the rear ofthe band-score is a cut-away portion C, which is preferably deeper'thanthe baud-score, so as to provide a recess inIO which the fragments ofthe flange or ring R, immediately behind. the band, and the fragments ofthe band B may readily pass without producing great strains between thearmor-plate and the'wall 9o of the projectile. From this reduction ofthe diameter of the projectile at ()a further advantage results, becausethe wall of the projectile being weaker at the point C than at thehandsome the strength of the chamberwall at the band score is greaterinstead of being less than at portions of the projectile in the rear of\the band-score, thus add- The bottom surfaceof the band-score 7()iwiouseiy some fiairnes of tilifi invention 1 i he used without. otherfeatures and may mnbmiiei in Widuiy-vai'ying forms. For

aim the foiiewing:

mjectiie having a hand and bandsmeiiim" in the immediate rear of thefmini-ware, ieaving a, frangible ring of metal wmt i 1.. in

nwdiiiw: uezeign 01' iim mm 5 em- (16 said ring Wili not be imperiefi aof heavy parts in i235 immediate ntialiy the gurposas set forth.

, 2, and 5.

tile having aband aid bamL :meter of tin-a projectile being immediaterear of She band- 21 frangiiiiis ring; 0i nmmi in Lin; ind-score, andaffcrding an im- C: 20 receive the band and frag Ring 05 metal in. iiYQIQI LIQ'fOY gm fur i 1 ti. 1e 'izwiiig; a bee and bandwalk; 0? whichrelatively a9 "om-am mpeved award the rear Jiii'd mot'on 0 the band,

reduced; in e immedii; scars, where' iy Jim i

